Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit

Here's a new one for ya. The guy's name is Johnny Flynn and he is out of London. His biography is not a complicated one; he's a musical prodigy turned Shakespearean actor turned musician. As a child Flynn sang in the Winchester College Chapel Choir. His musical scholarship through them required that he learn two instruments. He chose violin and trumpet. When learning them Flynn rarely used sheet music and this gravitated towards improvisation. As he stated recently in an interview with Guardian.uk.co, it was "the most rebellious thing I could do" and "it made it easy for me to pick up anything quickly".

Flynn spent his formative years listening to Bob Dylan, playing music, acting, and pursuing other traditional English pastimes including cricket, fishing, and getting hammered. However after getting out of school it wasn't Flynn's music, but rather his acting that payed the bills. Not until recently did Flynn start to take his folk talents more seriously and treat them as more than just a supplemental career.

Flynn released his first album "A Larum" in 2008 (*An EXCELLENT album). He has spent the last couple of years touring fairly heavily and just released his second album (which I haven't heard yet) in June of 2010. The first part of this year he toured with the likes of Mumford & Sons. but midway through the US tour Flynn's label suddenly pulled the plug citing the recession's effect on sales. One album into a five-album deal Flynn was dropped.

For his current tour of the States Flynn has left his band at home. The past 2 years have left him broke. Right now he is playing some small shows and has got a part in a new film, but is in danger of being left behind by his musical peers. Take a listen to these tracks, hard to believe that a guy with this sort of talent is struggling to sell disks.

Enjoy, Ben.